Make them laugh, make them feel, to be remembered.

24 Nov Make them laugh, make them feel, to be remembered.

Yesterday I saw a “The Book of Mormon” with a good friend. It was both hilarious and outrageous. The outrageousness was mitigated and tempered greatly by the show’s humor…and the southern Bible Belt audience was enraptured.

This fall, a client called me in to repackage a program that was limping along. We got to work, identified the innate messages that were going unsaid, connected a great story about a little four-year-old girl who had been helped by the program, and created a strong brand identity and messaging tools. Our results already are double that of last year. And we’re still a week out.What’s the connection? Always, always ask that question of yourself—push hard—when you’re working on a program, a project, a message, a brand, a promotion, an offer.

You must connect on a visceral level with your target audience. If you don’t, your message will wash over and through them, leaving no lasting impression.

We’re getting bombarded with some 3,000 messages every single day. We screen nearly all of them out. We have to. We just can’t take it all in. No time, no energy, no way to react.

The ones we do register are timely, they are compelling, they connect with us in some way. We need it, we want it, we hear it. Then, we have a chance to act on it.

When I looked around the vast performing arts center yesterday, I saw and heard people laughing from their core. The woman sitting beside me was actually…guffawing. The show’s writers were able to take sacred topics and shift our lens to show the humor, and the greater message, which was a memorable one. The message was entertaining, true and memorable.

With the little four-year-old’s story, we were able to tap into something people really care about, the lives of little children. The message was authentic and emotional.